A weekend of ups and downs ends with Stefano on the podium in the green points leaders jersey at the San Dimas Stage Race.

Check back for details for San Dimas and Hillsboro soon.

Stefano was on again last weekend at the University of Northern Colorado Cycling Promontory Park Criterium. He found his way into a tough group and finshed second on the day to Henk Vogels. The podium spot is nice but more importantly the weekend served as a tune up for the upcoming San Dimas Stage Race and Redlands Bicycle Classic. For San Dimas the THF Realty Cycling Team will have Brain Alfermann and Stefano. For Redlands they will be joined by Terry Kennan, Nolan Froese, Pete Lopinto and Brian Dziewa.

While Brian and Stefano are battling in San Dimas the St. Louis contingent will take part in what has become one of the classic road races in the area, in fact the Hillsboro-Roubaix has be consistently voted as the top road race in the area. Along with the excellent event the promoter is also offering a chance for everyone involved to Fight Cancer and Support the Montgomery County Cancer Association.

Last weekend we went to Arkansas to do the Hell’s kitchen road race. I did this race once before as a cat 4. I remember in the 4s I attacked early and soloed for 40 miles and won by 6 minutes. That was my first Cat 4 race ever and needless to say I was all pumped up about being the next Lance.That was then and this is now and it seems as many things have changed. I’ve moved up through the ranks embossing my self to a category 1 rider. Racing in professional level races is never easy for an inexperienced kid like me. However, unlike the small events, the pressure for you to do well isn’t too high. You can take your time to learn the race and how everyone races. These smaller races, there always feels like there is more pressure on you. I’ve done well for my fair share of cat 1,2 races, but I wouldn’t consider myself a dominate rider in the Midwest peloton.

Hell’s kitchen is a race that splits up due to the rolling terrain, a lot of attacks and one really steep mile log hill. It’s a shame more people don’t come down to that race, as the scenery is beautiful. Rolling hills and some sunshine doesn’t hurt the eyes. However, it can hurt the legs.

We ended up riding 4 and half hours before the race, and it wasn’t too easy. We always met other people who seemed to go hard up every hill. After that we did 20 miles of endurance pace on some flat highway, in skidmark Arkansas. Needless to say, it was dark and we were starting to get a little scared at the end.

Despite the long ride the day beforehand, I felt pretty good. The legs seemed fresh enough and I wasn’t too sore. The race started off pretty fast but that’s the way I wanted it because I was a little cold from standing around at the starting line. A break ended up getting up the road, which had three of our guys in it, one of them being me. I attacked at the top of the hell’s kitchen climb the second lap and then Steve Tilford countered, followed by my teammate Terry. We let both of them get up the road and we were happy with that.  Terry took 2nd, and I broke the top ten and so did Brian Diewza. Austin patrolled the pack and made sure no one could get to the break.

 Thanks for reading,

Nolan

We would like to thank Serge Desrosiers for these photos:

Stefano opens the weekend by taking the top step at the Metro State RoadRunner Time Trial on Saturday and Pete Lopinto closes Sunday on the top step at the DU City Park Criterium!

TT RECAP:

So after some big changes to the Time Trial bike I decided it would be a good idea to try the new position at a local race called the Roadrunner Time Trial since there is no better way to simulate racing than by racing! Once there I was glad to see that there were  quiet a few good riders and that I was going to have to work for it. The course was an out and back in one direction and then out and back again in a different direction, sort of like a dog bone shape starting in the middle with some pretty technical corners in the first part and two nicely sized rollers on the second half. Also, the description of the course on the flier read “between 8 and 9 miles”. That one mile can make a pretty big difference in a Time Trial like that but I talked to a couple people and knew that the best times for the other categories was right around 20 minutes, so that was good enough.

Anyways, on with the racing. Started out pretty hard till I set into the pace but managed to take some seconds on my 30 second man, who happened to be one of my former team mates last year and pretty much held it there for the rest of the time. At the end I finished with a time of 18:57 which was good enough to win over my former team mate and 30 second man Justin England who was 6 seconds behind me.

After picking up my “huge winnings” I made my way back home for some rest before Sunday’s criterium at City Park.

Thanks for reading

Stefano      

For our March raffle we have a one of a kind signed souvenir from the tour of Missouri. This Armadillo XING sign was signed by about 50 riders from the inaugural Tour of Missouri. This sign was giving to Dan Schmatz as a gift from his teammates and friends from other teams to help ease the pain of his run in with an Armadillo early in stage 2. Along with this sign the winner of the raffle will receive a THF Realty Cycling Team jersey. Our jerseys which are made by Hincapie Sports are about a week from delivery but this art proof will give you a sneak peak of what these top quality jerseys will look like.

Just like our auction last month 100% of the donations go to bikes for kids program. The bikes for kids charity is run by the Variety Charity in St. Louis with the goal of helping get therapeutic bikes for kids in need.

To date, more than 2,000 children from Variety partner agencies have received new bikes, thanks to the generous support of the St. Louis business community and caring individuals such as yourself. In addition to the new bike, each child will receive a helmet and fitting, bike lock, T-shirt and safety instruction.

Variety’s “I CAN!” spirit is at the very heart of the Bikes for Kids program. Bikes symbolize freedom and represent the absence of limits for all children, with or without disabilities. Every child should have the experience of owning his or her bike, and this unique program makes it possible!

Raffle tickets can be purchased via the link at the upper left and are only one dollar. Here is your chance to get a great jersey and a one of a kind piece of Tour of Missouri memorabilia that can’t be found anywhere else for just one dollar or you can increase your chances by donating more, each ticket is a dollar and you can donate as much as you like to increase you chances of winning!

Two day omnium.

Day 1 – The Criterium was 10, 90-degree corners in 1 mile with two blocks up hill. When I rolled to the line, everyone was line up, but I was still able to start front row. This was huge, as people began getting dropped 4 minutes into the race!! I followed the first two moves, but it became painfully obvious that I had to meter out my efforts; otherwise I would become the next to be dropped. I followed the important moves, and stayed near the front, and that’s where I was with 1 lap to go. I had a chance to move up with 6 corners to go, but decided to slot in as opposed to going into a downhill corner 6 wide. I was passed by one other rider between there and the line, and finished up 10th on day and stood 10th overall going into the road race.

Day 2 – Road Race. The flier said (4) 20-mile laps; the laps were actually 27 miles long for a grand total of 108 miles of racing in 40mph winds. As it was the day before, you needed to stay close to the front. The first break of the day started from the word go and lasted the first lap and a half of the race. When this break was being pulled back, I actually ended up in the 3rd group on the road. I thought the top 15-20 was far enough up front, but I was wrong. Two gaps opened in front of me; I was able to close one, but not the other. After a half lap of chasing, we regained contact with what was now the field due to the first group catching the break. Another two laps of hard racing went by with attacks and counter-attack and the next move that went was after the feed zone. The feed zone had a tail wind, so speeds were the highest through there. I held onto some good wheels, and made my way up front. At the end of the straight, I turned the corner and continued to roll. I didn’t attack, I just wanted to get back up to speed, but I ended up helping start the break. It was two of us to start, but we had three others join us within the next few miles. We continued to work for the next 30 miles and made it to the line a few minutes ahead of the field. The three late joiners to the break had a little more in their legs, so ended up fourth out of the break of 5. I was happy with the way it went, and didn’t feel that I could have done anything different to change the outcome of the race.

After the final point standings were figured, I ended up 9th overall. Great weekend of racing, which makes the next few weeks of training all the easier!!

-Brian